Dec. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Abu Dhabi National Energy Co., the
state-controlled company that last week bought BP Plc’s stakes
in North Sea fields for $1.1 billion, acquired a majority stake
in an energy exploration block in Iraq’s Kurdish region.

Taqa, as the state-controlled power and oil company is
known, signed an agreement to buy a 53.2 percent interest in the
Atrush block from General Exploration Partners Inc., a unit
Aspect Holdings Llc, the company said in a statement last night.
It didn’t provide financial terms of the transaction.

Taqa, owned 75 percent by the Abu Dhabi government, holds
stakes in businesses generating power or producing oil and gas
in the Middle East, the North Sea, India and North America. The
company produced more than 134,400 barrels of oil equivalent a
day in the first nine months of this year. In April, it agreed
to acquire a 50 percent interest in the 1,000 megawatt
Sulaymaniyah gas-fired power in the Kurdish region.

“Atrush is a highly prospective block in a new growth area
with significant upside potential,” Chief Executive Officer
Carl Sheldon said in the statement. “This entry into a pure
exploration play demonstrates how Taqa is leveraging its
experience as an operator of complex oil and gas assets.”

Taqa is considering tapping the debt market and has hired
BNP Paribas SA, Citigroup Inc, HSBC Holdings Plc, National Bank
of Abu Dhabi PJSC and Standard Chartered Plc to arrange investor
meetings in Asia, London and the U.S., according to a person
familiar with the matter. The company said acquisition of the
Atrush block will be funded from corporate resources and is
expected to close this month.